'Tortoise-tables'
offer many advantages over glass vivariums. Here's how to make your
own!

By Sue
Brooks

This
simple enclosure can be made with minimum technical
skills. It is light to move around and easy to keep
clean.

The
benefits of housing tortoises in open-topped enclosures
have been well documented but sometimes the practicalities of actually making
one can seem a bit perplexing.
Is it going to be light enough to move around
once made? Will it be easy to change the substrate?
Is it going to be easy to maintain good hygiene?
Will it be simple to make? Is it going to look neat
in my conservatory or wherever you plan to use it?
This design offers a positive response to all of these
questions. The technical skills required are limited
to the use of an electric drill and a jigsaw,otherwise
it is just down to a bit of elbow grease and measuring.
No corners were mitered or any other fancy finishing
techniques used.

The
materials used were:

1 pack of
laminate flooring (5 pieces)*

Ĺ sheet
of twin walled polycarbonate glazing

MDF off
cuts

Timber
batten

4 strong
seed trays

duct tape

* Try not
to get the ultra thin type as they would be difficult to screw into. The ones
used were 11.3mm thick.

The
overall measurement of the enclosure illustrated is 108 cm
x 48 cm, but as floorboard sizes may vary and your own requirements will also
vary, no precise measurements of the constituent parts will be given.

The most
important part is to get your seed trays first and measure them. The ones used
here measure 24cm x 38cm but slightly larger or smaller could be used. They
will dictate how long and how wide your enclosure needs to be. To this
you will need to add the thickness of the side verticals, the thickness of the
polycarbonate lining and the timber batten which will hold the main section in
place. A look at the separate parts in figure 1 will illustrate this. Donít
forget to add a little extra to allow room for fingers when removing trays for
cleaning or replacing substrate. When you have your overall base measurements
you are ready to begin.First, clip
three of your floorboards together and keep them in place using duct tape or
similar before cutting
to required size using a jigsaw. With the timber batten make an oblong the
same size as the base just made and secure it to the base with screws from
below. You now have something resembling a tray, which should be firm and
stable, enabling you to remove the duct tape. The remaining 2 floorboards can
now be used in
conjunction with the MDF off cuts to make an oblong inner to
fit inside the batten edging. This should then be
firmly attached using screws through the timber batten at the front and again at
the back. The only job then remaining is to construct a lining using the
polycarbonate glazing which can easily be cut with jigsaw or sharp knife. This
lining was made about 8cm deeper
than the inner, to keep the enclosure light and provide
extra security. The outer corners were simply secured
with duct tape and it was left unattached to facilitate
cleaning. A plastic rim was later attached to the
edge of this lining to cover the sharp edges.

The trays
can be filled with a soil/sand substrate alone, or
preferably planted with edible weeds to be enjoyed
by the tortoises. Having 4 separate trays will enable
you to vary the habitat a little. In this particular case one of the trays was
filled with cobbles
to provide a surface for clambering over and also to
keep the water dish away from the substrate, which can
otherwise turn into a mud bowl. The 4th tray (not
seen) was simply filled with folded towels, which provided
a popular burrowing area.

Used with
a UV-B Active Heat lamp, this enclosure is ideal for
any small tortoises requiring indoor accommodation. For ease of
maintenance, additional trays can
be planted up, ready to exchange with those in use and trays of cobbles which
have become soiled, can be put out in heavy rain or simply hosed down and left
in the sun to dry.

The total
cost of this enclosure was approx £35 (excluding heat lamps and other
electrical items)